Sequential InSAR Time Series Deformation Monitoring of Land Subsidence and Rebound in Xi’an, China

Abstract

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series deformation monitoring plays an important role in revealing historical displacement of the Earth’s surface. Xi’an, China, has suffered from severe land subsidence along with ground fissure development since the 1960s, which has threatened and will continue to threaten the stability of urban artificial constructions. In addition, some local areas in Xi’an suffered from uplifting for some specific period. Time series deformation derived from multi-temporal InSAR techniques makes it possible to obtain the temporal evolution of land subsidence and rebound in Xi’an. In this paper, we used the sequential InSAR time series estimation method to map the ground subsidence and rebound in Xi’an with Sentinel-1A data during 2015 to 2019, allowing estimation of surface deformation dynamically and quickly. From 20 June 2015 to 17 July 2019, two areas subsided continuously (Sanyaocun-Fengqiyuan and Qujiang New District), while Xi’an City Wall area uplifted with a maximum deformation rate of 12 mm/year. Furthermore, Yuhuazhai subsided from 20 June 2015 to 14 October 2018, and rebound occurred from 14 October 2018 to 17 July 2019, which can be explained as the response to artificial water injection. In the process of artificial water injection, the rebound pattern can be further divided into immediate elastic recovery deformation and time-dependent visco-elastic recovery deformation.